GamJams.net: Where Mid-Atlantic bike racers roll: You've Been Cooked: Tour de Georgia Stage 4 and 5

(Here's Matt Cooke's latest update from inside the pro peloton. Matt raced locally as an amateur with Lateral Stress Velo and in 2006 was the Elite National Road Race Champion. For 2007 he landed a pro contract with Navigator's Insurance, and this year is racing for the Health Net Pro Cycling Team. He'll be contributing regularly to GamJams, beginning with updates throughout the week on the Tour de Georgia.

Questions for Matt? Ask away in the comments and he'll get back to you. But probably not until after his massage.)

You've Been Cooked: Tour de Georgia Stage 4 and 5
by Matt Cooke
Health Net Pro Cycling Team, presented by Maxxis

Sorry for not writing an entry yesterday. The posh resort we were staying at lost internet for about 8 hours making what should have been a nice relaxing day of only a short ttt into a day where about 200 cyclists bitched and moaned over not having internet.

I mean seriously what else are we supposed to do when we're not on our bike?

As for the TTT, it went pretty well. I think we got 7th. We nearly finished with everyone but Corey came off at the end but he did it to himself because he pulled through when we told him to sit on. Seriously though the guy is missing a chunk, make that several chunks of flesh out of his leg, ass and back. So he gets one of several Tough Cookie Awards for the week.

We ran a single pace like which on a course as technical as Road Atlanta was the best call. I wish we had all had shoe covers but I think thats about it. Bigger chain rings would not have helped because of how up and down the course was in my opinion.

So today was a total death march. 133.4 miles of up and down all day. 3 KOM's and a few sprints. Mike Creed of Rock Racing and I tried to go early and nearly crashed into a traffic island. That was fun.

Finally after an hour of non stop attacks a group went and as soon as they got to 100 meters or so the field shut down. Everyone wanted to ride easy for a bit. Tim Johnson from Health Net-Maxxis was there thank go so we didn't have to ride. I took a piss, got a feed and tried to save as much energy as possible.

We got word that our team car crashed. We thought we were screwed b/c what would we do for feeds all day. The second thought was is our director ok. I mean, we're racing all day we have to eat and drink.

Toyota loaded us up with bottles. Thank you Toyota.

10 minutes later we see the team car drive by the field to go feed Tim so I guess that was all nothing. Whatever, I got my feed.

It started to rain at the end and I didn't know the roads so I backed off and was feeling just a bit tired and ended up missing the split. Rory got second on the stage after Tim went solo from the break and nearly pulled it off. Tim got Most Aggressive for the day and he totally deserves it.

I lost 58 seconds which is a shame but whats done is done and I am now thinking about tomorrow's barn buster of a stage that finishes on top of Brasstown Bald. Its supposed to be the hardest climb in the US and I've never done it but I'll give it my best shot.

Also. I look really skinny in these pictures. I don't see myself as that thin but I guess the camera does not lie.

And thanks for the messages. I do like reading them and I hope my words are worth something.

Stage 3